DELAWARE, Ohio — Nine months pregnant, Deanna Ballman left her two young children with her
mother, saying she was responding to a Craigslist ad to clean a New Albany house.

Her body was found the next day in the back seat of her car, which had been abandoned along a
rural road in southeastern Delaware County.

The child in her womb, a girl she planned to name Mabel Lily, was dead as well. They died of a
heroin overdose.

Yesterday, a Delaware County grand jury indicted a doctor on charges of murder in the deaths of
both Ballman and her unborn child, accusing him of raping the 23-year-old woman, providing the
fatal drug dose and dumping her body.

Ali Salim, 44, a permanent U.S. resident who lives on Columbus’ Northeast Side near New Albany,
will plead not guilty today to a nine-count indictment, his attorney said. Salim worked until July
at Knox Community Hospital in Mount Vernon.

Ballman’s body was found on Aug. 1, a day after she told her mother at her Pataskala home that
she was responding to an online ad in hopes of earning some money to help support her two children,
then ages 1 and 3.

Investigators quickly homed in on Salim, removing a computer and other items from his home at
5077 Turner Close.

Three other women who responded to Craigslist ads at Salim's home complained to police that
their visits left them unnerved. One online ad offered a $300-an-hour modeling job.

Delaware County Sheriff Russ Martin and Prosecutor Carol O’Brien offered few new details about
the case during a news conference yesterday.

The indictment charges Salim with two counts each of murder and tampering with evidence and
single counts of rape, felonious assault, kidnapping, corrupting another with drugs and abuse of a
corpse. He is in the Delaware County jail.

Martin called the killing of Ballman and her a baby a “horrific crime.”

He added: “We hope today is the beginning of some form of closure for this family and other
loved ones.”

O’Brien renewed her sympathies to the Ballman family in light of another recent tragedy: Deanna’s
brother, 19-year-old James Ballman of Hebron, died on Feb. 3 when he was shot by a man handling a
gun at a Hebron apartment.

Cody Williams, 23, of Newark, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in his death.

James Ballman previously said their mother thought she heard scuffling and a woman shouting on
the phone before a call from her daughter was disconnected on the day Deanna Ballman
disappeared.

A friend said that Deanna was not a drug user.

Sigrid Ballman, the grandmother of James and Deanna, didn’t want to talk yesterday.

“It’s too soon,” she said.

Sheriff Martin said that Lori Ballman, the mother of the two, was relieved to hear of Salim’s
arrest.

O’Brien said no other arrests are anticipated. Columbus lawyer Sam Shamansky is representing
Salim, who is scheduled to be arraigned today in Delaware County Common Pleas Court.

The prosecutor said she will ask the judge to set a high bond to keep Salim in jail, while
Shamansky said his client deserves a “reasonable bond” because he is neither a flight risk nor a
danger to the community.

Salim has a valid medical license but had not been working recently, authorities said. His
medical licensure information lists his specialties as internal and emergency medicine and
psychiatry.

A native of Pakistan, Salim graduated from medical college at the University of the Punjab in
1993.

Records show that he also once worked at Ohio hospitals in Athens, Jackson, Washington Court
House and Gallipolis.